I Love You, That's Why
by Kirinkato1331
Summary: Toushiro's sick and before he could think that it could get any worser, a certain someone's presence made him better. HitsuKarin one-shot and slight KiraHina 3.


**For ****Durbe the Barian****, hope you like it though :)**

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COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!

"Now, now, Shiro-chan... you must rest! You're a taichou, you're busy and I know that, but even taichous get sick! So no more paperwork!" Hinamori scolded while taking away Toushiro's paperwork from his hands and laid him back inside his futon. The prodigy groaned in protest.

"Its Hitsugaya-taichou to you!" Toushiro complained in between his coughs. "You're sick and you still have that attitude. Well, I hope there is someone out there who you treat differently," Hinamori said. Toushiro's eyes went wide at Hinamori's remark. 'Well, there is someone...,' he thought while closing his eyes to go to sleep.

At that time, a knock interrupted Toushiro's slight slumber. He groaned again. "Hinamori, go see who it is... cough!". "I wonder who that could be... Granny hasn't had guests for years...," Hinamori said as she opened the door, but what greeted her made her jaw dropped. "Oh...my...Kami...," she whispered, but loud enough for Toushiro to hear. "Who is it, Hinamori?" Toushiro asked. Hinamori ignored his question.

"You're... It couldn't be...," Hinamori stammered. The stranger smirked and nodded. Hinamori blinked her eyes for a while to understand the stranger's presence. Then, she smiled understandingly. "Well, Shiro-chan's inside... Uuuuuhhhh, Shiro-chan!" Hinamori said and called Toushiro. "What is it, Hinamori? Who's at the door?" Toushiro answered. "Uuuuhhh, I have to go now! I forgot that Kira-kun just asked me on a date today, but someone else is here to take care of you! Hihi... Please take care of him, okay?" Hinamori didn't lie about the date thing.

The stranger smiled and bowed with respect. Then, Hinamori left and the stranger stepped inside Granny's house without saying a word. Toushiro groaned again as he covered his eyes with his left arm. "Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Toushiro asked with obvious irritation in his voice. One, because of Hinamori's ignorance towards his questions and two, because of the presence of the unknown stranger inside Granny's house. "Is that how you greet someone who you haven't met for a long time, Toush?" the 'stranger' said with annoyance. The prodigy's eyes opened so fast that his head started to spin. Toushiro groaned while massaging his head and looked towards the 'stranger'. His eyes went wide when he saw her.

"Kurosaki! What the hell are you doing in Soul Society?! Are you already dead?! What happened to you?!" Toushiro darted questions towards Karin. Karin ignored his questions and went inside the kitchen. Toushiro was still not believing what he just saw. 'Was that really Karin? Oh my Kami, she changed a lot!' he thought. Yup! Karin changed a lot. She was no longer the 11 year old girl which he met 6 years ago. Her jet-black hair was now reaching her waist, but tied up into a ponytail. She was wearing the high-school uniform which Ichigo used to go to. She was not a little girl any more. Instead, she is a beautiful 17 year old high-schooler, but the scowl still existed in her face though. Toushiro felt like his heart skipped a thousand beats.

Karin came out of the kitchen with a tray that had a teapot and two teacups on it. She set the tray on the table beside Toushiro(who was staring at her) and sat down beside him. Karin looked at the white-haired prodigy with a raised eyebrow. "Nani? You're staring at me like I'm a stranger," Karin said while she poured tea inside the two teacups and gave one to the awe-struck taichou. Toushiro took it and drank it. An awkward silence filled the living room.

Karin sighed heavily. "Okay, I'm not dead Toushiro. I came here to visit you. Don't worry, I already told oyaji, Yuzu and Ichi-nii about this. They were okay with it. Okay, scratch Ichi-nii out. He did protested a _bit_," Karin explained while she remembered Ichigo's reaction when she told him about it. He went ape, but quickly shut up when she threatened him by telling him that she's going to tell Rukia about Ichigo accidentally ripping her Chappy drawings.

Toushiro raised an eyebrow at the ravenhead. "I know you're lying, Kurosaki. I've been sick many times and you never even visited me. Tell me the truth, NOW!" Toushiro ordered. Karin sighed and didn't answer him. She played with the hem of her skirt, signalling that she was nervous and wanting to say something, but couldn't spit it out. Toushiro grew impatient. He placed the now-empty teacup on the table and stood up slowly. "Whatever. I'm going outside for a while. I'm_ tired_ of waiting for you, Ku-". "STOP!" Karin snapped and stood up. Toushiro was shocked at Karin's sudden explosion. It was rare for Karin to yell at him with such emotion.

"Just stop it, Toushiro... Stop calling me Kurosaki, I have a first name,Toushiro! Stop treating me like I'm a nobody! You're_tired_ of waiting for _me?_! You're such a **jerk**! I can't believe it! All these years, I've been waiting for you,Toushiro! For **you**! And I've never gotten tired of it! But did you know how painful it was to wait for you to come and see me! How painful it was to be alone! How painful it was to bottle up these feelings! Huh?! Do you know how painful it was?! Answer me, Toushiro!" Karin cried at that moment. It was too painful for her. She waited for him for years. She really wanted to see him. Just once was enough. At first, she was really happy to finally get the chance to meet him again after 6 years. She thought he would be happy too. Instead, she was greeted by his stupid ignorance. That really crushed her spirits.

The atmosphere was filled with Karin's sobbings. Toushiro stood there frozen at what Karin just said. She waited for him? And he just stayed at Soul Society, never finding the time to go to the real world and visit her. Toushiro realized that he was being such a jerk for making Karin wait for him. It was painful for him to see her cry, but she must've suffered more than him. For a girl to cope with loneliness by herself was too much. Toushiro admitted that he's been crushing on her after their second meeting, but after seeing her crying in front of him for the first time, the crush began to grow into something else.

Love...

Toushiro bit his lip and slowly walked towards Karin. Karin, who was still crying, was unaware that Toushiro was walking towards her. Toushiro stopped in front of Karin and he gathered all the courage he had and pulled Karin into his arms. Karin's eyes went wide at what was happening. She stood still because of shock while Toushiro tightened his embrace. After a while, Karin finally responded to his hug. "Karin, I'm sorry for making you wait. I'm sorry for leaving you wallowing in so much pain by yourself. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings and most of all, I'm sorry for being a jerk towards you. Please don't hate ...," Toushiro apologized and everything became quiet again.

"Baka...," Karin murmured. "Nani?" Toushiro asked. Not really clear with what Karin just said. Karin pulled away from the hug. "You're such a baka, Toush...," Karin said while wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Toushiro stared at Karin with confusion. "Who said I hate you?" Karin asked. "B-but... Y-you j-just-". "Yes, you hurt my feelings, but that doesn't mean I hate you," Karin said with amusement.

Toushiro sighed with relief. "So do you want to know?" Karin asked. Toushiro, once again, caught in confusion. "Huh?". Karin shook her head with amusement at the prodigy's slowness. "Do you want to know the real reason why I visited you out of the blue?" Karin asked with her arms crossed. Toushiro nodded.

Karin closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.

"I love you, that's why...".

After listening to those words, Toushiro felt like floating on air. He can't believe that Karin also has feelings for him. Toushiro stared at Karin while she just stared at the ground with her face burning.

It was silence again. Karin felt so embarrassed. 'There's no way he would return my feelings...,' Karin thought with sadness. But her thoughts turned out to be wrong when a finger tilted her chin up and her lips were smashed against Toushiro's. Karin's eyes went wide, but before she could respond to the sweet and chaste kiss, Toushiro pulled away. "Love you too, Karin...," Toushiro confessed and then kissed Karin's forehead. Karin held back her tears and pulled him down for another kiss. This time it was more passionate, but still gentle.

The both of them were still engaged in the kiss that they didn't heard somebody opened the door and came in, until...

"My, what a sweet couple...,".

Karin and Toushiro pulled away from each other. Toushiro looked towards the person. "Granny!" he yelled while his face blushed a deep shade of red. Karin smiled with embarrassment. Behind Granny was Hinamori who is laughing her head off with Kira who is smiling.

"So when is the wedding, Toushiro-chan, Karin-san?" Granny asked with an amused smile on her kind and wrinkled face.

"GRANNY!"

Toushiro's shout drowned in Hinamori, Kira, Granny and Karin's laughter. But in the end, Toushiro joined in as he held Karin's delicate hand and kissed her again.

"I feel a lot better now, Karin...".

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**Sorry for any grammar mistakes :)**


End file.
